Summer Garden Update 2018

The garden report: August 2018
A little sad this year.
Record breaking heat and record breaking lack of rain.
Our well water is so hard here that my soil sample I did came back at 8 ph. Too alkaline for a lot of plants.

Small portions of the flower beds looked good at random times and I can usually set up a shot that looks fabulous without the viewer seeing the sad setting.

The only thing that did good in the veggie garden was the cantaloupe. Even my pumpkins were dying off one by one and getting ripe way too early. It looks like I'll be buying some for pies this year because I'll save every one I can for photos.

I just love shooting my flowers with my 70-300 lens. I hadn't had my Canon out for a long time. I didn't realize how much I missed it.

February Review in May

Still cleaning out my Lightroom catalog...

I took very few photos in February (Canon photos, that is.) In fact the final count was a whole 19. And I'm not counting the grandkids...

These soft pink stocks were so fragrant and heavenly I couldn't resist the purchase.

I love the old fashioned antique feel of these edits.

Most of these were done with presets by Pretty Presets.

Of course I always shoot some with my phone...

They were as beautiful when they ran out of water as they were before.

Mextures 

Artista Impresso (more on this app later...)

Playing in the Light

This week I had a few free hours at work for 'cleaning' up my Lightroom catalog. I had to go back to March and start culling. Of course I got side tracked and started editing some because I'd done very little of that too. I was captivated once again at how my neighbor's lilacs danced in the light that day.

I wouldn't have thought they would look so stunning in black and white, but who knew?

Their buds look like little alien mouths.

Such delicacy.

 Such beauty.

Have a beautiful weekend and a great Mother's Day!

Dreams April 2016

Dreams...
"What are your dreams," he asks. I sit there, numb.
Do I even have any, anymore? What happened to them? Everyone has dreams. Where did they go?
I believe I may have given up on each one without even a fight. After awhile it proved to me they would never happen so why push it. Even though a lot were small they seemed too big for me to handle by myself. I felt unsupported in them and I didn't have the energy needed to make them a reality.

You see, I think anything worth having (a dream fulfilled) comes with a cost. It may be a mental thing to overcome or physical, or even emotional, or more than likely all the above. There is usually a "wall" that needs to be pushed through or perhaps some old bones in the dirt that need excavating before the foundation can be laid.
After all, Rome wasn't built in a day and it took more than one person.
Support is crucial.

I'm on a new journey now. One that I am actively and fully engaged in. I'm not blaming anyone but myself. I'm the one that chose to lie down and do nothing.

I have been given a new view of the future and it involves boldness and empowerment. That part of me somehow got lost.

Funny... my word for this year is 'intention'. How appropriate.

Spring Miscellany

At the Garden and Art Center

The smell was heavenly.

They looked like crepe paper.

A cloud of fluffy white purity.

Pink sweetness reaching for the sky.

A delicate sea of tiny blue dots.

I recognized his call right way. He looked and looked around but his mate never showed.

Hope your weekend is full of spring beauty.

January 2016

As you may have noticed I haven’t posted to my blog since Dec. 

1. I haven’t had the motivation for much picture taking.

2. I‘ve been working on a digital scrapbook project due the end of this month.

3. I painted some art journal type papers with acrylics to use in the scrapbook kit.

4. I got carried away and ended up making a bunch of digital brushes as a result.

5. I went to the quilt store with Kathy last week and ended up buying two top patterns and have nearly finished one.

As a result I have only posted 11 images to Instagram this month compared to my 25-35 average. Also very few posts to FB and haven’t kept up with my ‘groups’ at all.

Yes I’ve just proven to myself that you can break a habit easily in less than 30 days.

Now…. where will I go from here?

My word for this year is ‘intention’ I won’t elaborate.

I also reserve the right to change it at any time.

I am proud of myself for only signing up for two classes this year. One ends this week but has forever access, so I can get to it next week. I thought the other started this month too but I haven't seen a thing in my email about it so I had better check on it. It's hands-on with paint and I believe it lasts all year.

One of my intentions is to learn OnOne software. No reason to keep paying for updates if I'm not going to use it. Is that high on my list? not really. Perhaps I need to make a priority list. Before I know it, it will be summer.

This was edited totally on the iPad in iColorama and Procreate.

My July Garden

These funky tiny coneflowers have brought a ton of delight this summer. They've bloomed a long time and still look good. I need to start dead heading so they'll last better until fall. They may have come back from seed, but I think they are the original plant.

I love them in blurry form.

I'll confess the bokeh was added. It's from Pretty Presets, their Luminous Set.

My pink/purple cone flowers seeded out. None of the originals survived.

(iPhone)

Fortunately the red/orange cone flowers seeded out all over and I've transplanted some of them to the front beds.

I guess a lot of things came up volunteer this year. This is a purple verbena variation that gets quite tall. It came up right in the middle of my flagstone path and because it wasn't coming up anywhere else I just left it alone. (Added bokeh, don't you just love it? I think it makes the photo more magical.)

Our butterflies have been few and far between this year. I believe it's because the city has been spraying our mosquitos a lot. We're already well above the average rainfall for the year. 

I love this in monochrome because it makes him look transparent.

Of course I've had a plethora of zinnias.

My sunflowers always volunteer in the veggie garden. A bad storm wiped most of them out last month so the majority are laying on the ground.

You'll see a lot more sunflowers from me this month. The farmer down the road has a field in rare form this year and I've been out twice in the last 3 days. This morning I took my tripod with me and actually dressed nice for some selfies. I'm doing 31 days of Hipstamatic sunflowers on Instagram. Check it out, link in the side bar.

Summer at the Garden and Arts Center

Spring is my usual time to shoot the flowers at the Garden and Arts Center. The poppies just make me swoon. But I stopped in this week to what was going on. The rudbeckia were just phenomenal. I had taken my 70-300 lens by recommendation of Kathleen Clemons. I used to use it on my flowers but had gotten out of the habit. 

I love the rich moodiness of this.

f/5.6, 1/350, ISO 320.....f/4.5, 1/180, ISO 160

f/5.6, 1/350, ISO 320.....f/6.7, 1/180, ISO 320.....

I was also pleased with the shots using my 100mm.

f/4.5, 1/125, ISO 160

f/2.8, 1/250, ISO 100

f/2.8, 1/125, ISO 320

f/2.8, 1/125, ISO 100

These babies were surrounded by gaillardia, also known as blanket flower. They had planted several species. I don't think I got shots of all the colors.

f/2.8, 1/180, ISO 100

f/2.8, 1/180, ISO 100.......f/4, 1/180, ISO 160

Back to the long lens. Taken at 300mm, f/5.6, 1/350, ISO 800

I may just have to go back.

I took a ton more with my phone so maybe you'll see more on Mobile Monday.

Have a great weekend everyone!